The world's tallest woman, Sandy Allen, died August 13th, 2008. She was 7-foot, 7 and 1/4-inches tall and 53 years old. Her stature earned her a place in the Guinness World Records book. She was from Shelbyville, Indiana. Somehow I felt as if I knew her. Why, I don't know. I had seen her years ago on the Oprah show and just the mention of her nationally as being from Indiana made her kin. The Indianapolis Star gave a nice write up. There were pictures of the custom-made casket being horse drawn, covered with flowers, from Shellbyville's town square. She was described as a kind person with loving friends. Hers was not an easy life. She had done tours and traveled. She had spent the last ten years in a wheelchair unable to work.

Shortly after reading about her in the paper my brother-in-law sent me an article he had clipped about Powder the cat. Powder is a white 44-pound cat who was found roaming the streets of Blackwood, New Jersey in July. Powder ultimately ended up in the Camden County Animal Shelter and was determined a male after he had been dubbed "Princess Chunk". The reason he had been abandoned was explained by his former 68 year old owner, who later came forward after he became a media sensation and thought to be possibly the world's largest cat. That reason was her home's foreclosure. She said friends had told her they would take him to the shelter since she was unable to care for him. She had found a home for her other cat. She said she loved him very much and it broke her heart. I went on the web to learn more. I found that the world's record for largest cat was 46 pounds, 15 ounces. That cat lived in Australia and died in the 1980's. Guinness world records has stopped recording that category, fearing harm from owners trying to break the record. Thank goodness. As I searched through the internet I saw countless photos and videos of fat cats from people who titled such as funny. There was, and is, nothing funny about it. I could barely stand to look at the poor disfigured pets. They all looked well loved, however. You know how internet links work. You start one place and end up somewhere else. Since I was on the Guinness site I decided to look up my father and see if he was still holding the world record in his category. I've teased my readers about that before, not sharing that information (it's such a long story and one that drives my brother nuts). It seems the Guinness web site also teases. It doesn't give you all the records (there are 40,000). You have to get the book every year. The 2009 is out now. So I didn't get to see if Dad is still there. I will say to my brother Harry (who is my biggest column fan), at least Dad didn't embarrass us by having the world's largest collection of airline sickness bags (5,180) as does the gentleman from the Netherlands. You can see a photo of him wearing a yellow baseball hat that says "Barf Bags Wanted". Actually, that was kind of Dad's style. Oh gee.

As always.........Pets make you smile. I'm smiling because Powder has had hundreds of adoption offers after appearing on "Live with Regis and Kelly".